User reviews

After watching this predictable, made-for-TV film about technophobia and the internet I was puzzled about what message the movie intended to impart to its audience. Is the internet a bad ersatz form of communication, replacing familial bonds or is it a gateway to a better world? Do high-flying career women and divorces go hand in hand? Do children need their mothers at all times? What is the role of the father? This movie throws all these questions in the air as a hidden agenda, and refuses to answer any. Many questions are left unanswered: how will the daughter cope after her ordeal? Will the mother get her top job back? Will the family unit be reunited? By refusing to adopt any position, this movie is a failed exercise in sociological analysis - yes, that was not its intention, but why raise these issues and then abandon them?

Jordan Ladd proved a worthy actress in this enlightening made-for-TV drama, which sends a message that all teenagers should adhere; never trust internet chat-rooms.

It's a film that many parents might actually understand - the child, who is perhaps naive and a little too trusting, spending hours and hours on end on their computer, and one or both of the parents working full time and are never at home to check on what's going on. Every Mother's Worst Fear points this out quite thoroughly.

Admittedly, the story is a little clichéd, but you can't help but sympathise with Connie Hoagland (Cheryl Ladd) as she desperately tries to locate her daughter. It does work that a real-life mother and daughter were cast for such what is really a cat-and-mouse movie. It does point out that the internet is not always a good thing. 5/10

God this was just horrible! everything about it... the acting, the script, the characters... I just couldn't decide what was more laughable, the unbelievably dumb 16 year old, (yes some teens are innocent and gullible, but not to that level!!), the internet-geek who "never goes out of his house" and voluntarily gives a hell of a laptop to some woman he never met before, or the mom who didn't know anything about computers, but learned 'it all' in a couple of, umm, minutes? Not to mention Ted McGinley AKA Jefferson Darcy as the big bad scary hacker guy...

Other than that you just gotta love movies about comps and "the net" made by people who know absolutely nothing about it (except for various textbook quotes)... There were so many holes and misinformation in this movie I couldn't even begin writing about it...

But in any case, to all worried computer-illiterate parents: unless your teenage daughter suffers from major brain damage, you don't have anything to worry about... but if she does, disconnect the internet and let her watch TV instead... cheers :)

One of the reasons that I'm curious about the failure of every mother's worst fear to reach the take-off stage and consume us is that I am a sociologist and, it seems to me, the time has come for another wave of fear to sweep the country. And yet, confoundingly, it hasn't happened. Low-carb diets, yes -- but not internet predators? Why not?

Both the artifacts and the sentiments are there, as this movie shows vividly. Artifacts: a mysterious gray box that Cheryl Ladd's daughter hovers over, about which Ladd knows nothing. Atmosphere: a child of 14, just finishing her growth spurt, subject to whims and a desire for independence that Ladd has never had to cope with. Put the two together and you should have the family equivalent of a UFO flap.

It isn't that attempts haven't been made to kick start the craze. This movie is an example. And lately, the last month or two, public service ads have been appearing on television advising us that one in five children receive unwanted sexual solicitations over the internet. The announcement gives the viewer a website on which to report such solicitations. The website is www.cybertip.com. If you hate your neighbor or your landlored, give cybertip.com a hit. They make it easy to squeal on people you don't like.

It's a real site and a potentially useful one too. The statistics reported, including the "one in five children" who are solicited on the internet, are based on a single but scientifically respectable survey of more than 1,500 kids aged 10 to 17, carried out by three social scientists at the University of New Hampshire.

The problem with science is that it's become such a sacred cow that any pronouncements coming from a source that uses statistics is unassailable. You can pretty much take numbers and make them sing the tune you want them to, and you can do it without lying or falsifying the data. (Believe me, I know.)

Here's an example of what I mean. It's evidently true that about one in five kids received unwanted solicitations on the internet. Actually, 19 percent. Sounds terrible, doesn't it? But it also means that 81 percent of kids regularly using the internet did NOT receive unwanted sexual solicitations.

I won't take the report apart or examine it too closely. It's not a bad study but the terms are a little vague, an unfortunate necessity in telephone surveys. Summing it up, two thirds of the kids solicited were girls, and one third were boys. Likewise, about two thirds of the people DOING the soliciting were males, while one third were females.

If I remember, about 17 percent found the sexual approaches made them uncomfortable -- about three quarters of the "uncomfortable" kids were between 10 and 14. Most of the kids were too wise to be bothered.

You have to keep in mind too that if you're 17, you're a child in this survey, and if you're 18 you're an adult. The vast majority of sexual approaches were between young males (under 25) and more mature teenage girls. In other words an 18-year-old boy asking a 17-year-old girl a clumsily phrased question about herself would be categorized as an "unwanted sexual approach."

I'll quit at this point or I'll wind up reviewing the study without getting paid to do it. You can look it up if you're curious -- as I was -- and if a little statistics aren't bothersome.

As for applying the findings of this survey to the contents of this film, it can't be done. Of the more than 1,500 kids surveyed, few of them were asked for a personal meeting with the other person. And no meetings AT ALL took place in the course of the entire year covered by the study. Let's call it, "Every Mother's Worst Fantasy."

If you are a paranoid and ignorant of computers, your kids, minimum logic, and reality in general, this "movie" will sweet your mind and make you fell happy as a liter of drinks to an alcoholic. I am a computer engineer and somewhat I got trapped in front of my TV watching this thing for the computer topic. I confess I had a good time watching it, but they should tell us it is a "comedy" not a drama. I don't have the time to go with all details, and also there are a few fellas here that already gave us some hints.

Of course will be people out there that see Mickey Mouse as a pervert for exposing his tail, and no question this movie will enlighten them.

This is a surprisingly well done and enjoyable if slightly dated made for TV movie. Yes you can pull the plot apart if you so wish but you can do that with any movie ever made.

A young girl goes missing and it becomes clear she has been kidnapped after meeting up with a guy she chats to over the net. It's not a far fetched scenario as there are many examples of this.

Where this film succeeds is that it keeps your interest throughout as the mother and police search for the missing girl. There are a number of tense scenes and the abuse scenes though mainly just hinted at are effective. The acting for a TV movie is pretty good with both Cheryl and Jordan Ladd putting in convincing performances.

It is no classic but compared to many TV movies this is a pretty good effort.

Pretty simple movie but has a nice strong plot. It shows to people the danger of internet.

I think some of the story should be make longer and more details.

Overall, perfectly and watchable movie.

Not a lot of reason to watch this unless you are curious to see hotty Cheryl Ladd work with her daughter, hotty Jordan Ladd, or are interested in seeing if Ted McGinley can act against type as the brainy yet sick bad guy in this one. If anything, Cheryl showed me that sometime since "Charlie's Angels" she actually picked up a few things about acting and is pretty convincing, despite the weak script. The most unbelievable thing about this is that Jordan as Martha, would seek to find guys on the internet after her boyfriend breaks up with her. I mean, come on, take a look! She would not be lonely for long.

Interestingly the script is the last by John Robert Bensink, and deservedly so. The dialog and story just aren't very good. I checked his other credits and he seems to have been a bit of a one trick pony, doing this same theme in "Netnapped". Don't know that one, but this one definitely is a nap inducer.

It is very easy to pick this film a part, and it is probably very easy to say that I would never get trapped like Jordan Ladd,(Martha Hoagland),"Puzzled",01, into an Internet Chat room or my daughter or son would never be that stupid to be lead away from our home by total strangers. If the mom in this picture, Cheryl Ladd,(Connie Hoagland),"Lisa",'90, had noticed the signs of withdrawal by her daughter when she practically lived in the bedroom and gave complete devotion to the Computer, Jordan would never have faced the problems she faced. She was seeking Love in all the wrong places and the break up with her boyfriend sent her over the edge. This film is reminding us there is always someone in the Internet Chat Rooms who are playing very horrible games and pretending to be someone they really are not. This film pointed out the fact that Mom & Dad's are our best friends,and should be trusted enough to tell our most deepest SECRETS! Remember, our parents were all very young ONCE, and can really help you with your deepest, darkest PROBLEMS! Let Them HELP!

This is a very good movie that follows a 16 year old girl who goes to meet someone from the net and he kidnaps her and he runs a sex site on the net and he uses girls he kidnaps and puts them on the net. the girls Mother is out trying to find her and eventually does and just has to get her away from the guy. this movie is very good, it shows why you should always be careful of people on the net. Also the mother and daughter in the movie are Mother and Daughter in real life. i don't know if this is based on a true story but it could be!

This movie was one of good taste. It showed the dangers of completely trusting someone over the internet as well as letting parents know the possible dangers of letting their children "chat" on-line without supervision. Jordan Ladd gave an excellent job at portraying a typical teenager. I would recommend this movie to anyone. GREAT MOVIE!!

In today's, pc world, this movie tells a tale that we all know could happen. Not all that bad a film, especially if you're a cheryl ladd fan.

I first seen this movie on lifetime, i read the description, and sounded like a good movie. I absolutely love this movie, it is a wonderful way to show how things really can get if you let things get out of control. This is a movie for mothers to watch and actually take in, to know what can happen to their children. I think having Jordan Ladd, playing the daughter, was a wonderful Idea, actually getting to act with her own mother playing her mom just made the movie seem more lifely. I'm very pleased outstanding movie. this is a must see. Actually being about an internet stalker, and how that he didn't actually come for her, and that she actually left to go to him was more as actually cases, wonderful diections

I definitely think this movie is worth watching.. and a good one to watch with your kids to help them realize that there are dangers on the internet. While not every person on the internet is a sicky looking for prey, they ARE out there!

While some of the chat scenes left a little to be desired, I think it summed it all up quite well.

Note: this movie is based on a true story (it stated something to that effect at the beginning of the movie)

I caught this movie tonight on Lifetime and I have to comment. The internet is NOT a toy and I wish this movie were shown more often. I say that because I see kids online all the time who drop their names, locations, email addresses and IM names like people drop business cards. I know they think that this sort of stuff will not happen to them but as this movie showed, it can happen to anyone. I reinforce these realities whenever I need to and have no problem doing so. Cyberspace crawls with pedophiles, stalkers and people who have nothing else to do but play online all day. I think this movie was good and I wish it were shown more often. If any parents are reading this.......PLEASE keep the computers out of the kids rooms. Otherwise, you never know what sort of trouble can come of just "innocently" talking in a chat room to someone. The internet is not a toy and should not be treated as one. Just my two cents.